CHAPTER IV.

THE STORY OF CREATION.

Although many of these points are brought out in some of the other chapters, perhaps it would be wise to give a connected account of the creation in as few words as possible, as it reads symbolically, as so many have had serious trouble with these first few chapters of our Bible.

All translators seem to agree that there are two accounts of the creation given in Genesis, and that the one in the second chapter seems to be by far the older of the two. It seems very probable that the first chapter was not written until the Great Ones met in Babylon in the time of Ezra to compile the Scripture for the new Aryan race. As was fitting in a work of that kind, in a few terse sentences the origin of things was shown.

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From occult sources we learn that all things that appear upon the Physical Plane must first appear upon the Mental Plane. make the statement so plain that it may be readily grasped by a mind that has not studied along these lines, no house, or anything else, can be built until it has been clearly planned in the mind of the architect. As he conceives of this plan and perfects it in his mind he builds it upon the Mental Plane. God's thoughts are supposed to rest upon the Cosmic Mental Plane. When the Builder needs them we are told that He brings them down.

So in the first chapter of Genesis we find the perfected thought form of the Logos (God) in his seven-fold expression, showing the perfected patterns of all the seven great kingdoms of nature, as they will ultimately become when their evolution is complete.

The Kabbalah gives us the key to this in the words "Moses was perfect from the very day of his birth, seeing it is written, Ex. II, 2. 'And she saw him that he was good.' Page 197, paragraph 694. If the mother of Moses pronouncing him good meant that he was perfect from his birth, and Occultists tell us this was

indeed true, as he was perfected upon the Moon Chain, then how much more certain is it that when God looked upon his creations and pronounced them good it meant that they were present to His mind as they were to become when the whole course of their long evolution shall have been accomplished. Is it not reasonable to suppose that it was the perfected pattern that He pronounced good? We certainly realize that at the present stage there is nothing perfect. All is in a stage of evolution towards perfection.

In "Inner Life," Vol. II, page 162, Mr. Leadbeater says: "The Logos has thought out the whole life of His system, not only as it is now, but as it has been every moment in the past, and as it will be every moment in the future. And His thought calls into existence that of which He thinks. These thought forms are said to be on the Cosmic Mental Plane,-two whole sets of seven planes above our set of seven. Thus we may say that on the Cosmic Mental Plane the whole system was called into existence simultaneously by that thought,-an act of special creation."

Let us look at that word "Elohim, the word that is translated God, or Jehovah, according to the version. Elohim is a feminine noun with a masculine plural ending, and might be translated abstractly, power and creative wisdom; or it may mean the great creative agents of the Infinite. At any rate, it is plural.

In the first chapter we find Elohim creating, and in the second chapter it is the Lord Jehovah who is carrying on the work. However the word bârâ (create) is used but three times in the first chapter of Genesis: first as to the origin of matter, second as to the origin of life, and third as to the origin of man's soul. All other things are said to be made (re-formed).

In spite of the most determined efforts the scientists have not been able to prove the stages of creation as given in Genesis I to be erroneous. They practically agree with the nebular hypothesis as worked out scientifically. First, "In the beginning Elohim created." Science has nothing to say about that beginning. Second, fine gaseous matter, too fine to reflect light; third, gas condenses into liquid; fourth, light, liquid reflects light; fifth, mist rises from the water and a space is left between the water above, and the water below; sixth, great upheavals of land; seventh, grass, herbs, fruit trees; eighth, the mist gets less dense, and the sun, moon, and stars appear; ninth, living creatures begin

to swarm in the waters and birds begin to fly; tenth, cattle and beasts of the field; eleventh, Man; twelfth, God. (The Hebrew always begins and ends with God.) This is now generally conceded as the probable sequence of events.

But in reading this inner story forget all about days of twenty-four hours each, and read "evening of inharmony and morning of harmony to God's will, one day, or one period of time. There is no time upon the Plane where these thought forms of Divinity lie. Great periods of time are involved all now know, but how much time can never be known until the end. Science and Occultism have forced the narrow minded to accept the truth in regard to the great periods of time that must have elapsed, to have accomplished so much as has been done, so far, in the great evolutionary march, but it is impossible for the human mind to conceive of the periods involved.

The first chapter ending with the third verse of the second chapter gives us the perfected thought form of the Great Architect of the Universe, complete even to the smallest detail of what the destiny of the planet and all of its multitudinous creatures shall be when they shall have completed their long evolutionary journey.

In the second chapter, beginning with the fourth verse, we find the Great Master Builder, the Lord Jehovah, beginning His work, for to Him was given the great task of starting the evolu tionary march. The symbol of this Great One is always the Moon. Occultists tell us He was the Regent of the great Moon Chain. "Perfect from His birth," He is the Seed Manu of the Theosophist.

The Lord Jehovah's first work is to give to man a body in which to manifest. We find the egos of humanity lying upon the Buddhic Plane. They are already human, having reached that stage of evolution upon the Moon Chain. The Lord Jehovah builds man a body of the dust (the Kabbalah says "of the finer etheric matter," evidently of the mental matter). He forms the body out of the atomic matter of the Mental Plane but must call upon the second breath, or Spirit, or the Second Great Outpouring before it can become a "Living Soul," not a physical body.

The first breath was given when Elohim breathed upon the face of the waters, and impregnated all matter with the Holy Spirit and brought forth the atomic structure of all planes, but no forms can be brought forth without the attractive force of the

Great Second Outpouring of Spirit. The egos (for it is all in the plural, and refers to humanity) are now ready to function on the Mental Plane. They have causal and mental bodies.

Lord Jehovah places humanity in a garden of trees. Trees are symbols of teachers of wisdom. The garden is eastward, or toward intellectuality. The most of the teachers teach that it is best to learn by obedience to God's law, but one teaches that by breaking law will experience be gained more rapidly. Man is to be a free will being, so he must be given a choice. The Lord Jehovah warns and guides, but does not force.

Four rivers flow out of Eden, the Wisdom Plane, "for there is a Superior Eden" we are told in the Kabbalah, "and an Inferior Eden," and that "Eden" means 'Chokmah" (wisdom), so the four rivers are rivers of wisdom, to water the four planes for the development of humanity. Pishon means sinking into a cleft, and is the one that waters the plane next to the one on which Eden is situated. Inferior Eden is on the Mental Plane, so Pishon must water the Astral. Gihon, the rushing roaring river, waters the Physical Plane, or the land of Cush, the black land. Hiddikel, we are told by the Bible Dictionary, is a river in Paradise, and so it is, for it waters the Mental Plane or the land of Assyria (Asshur son of Shem, Shem the Christ of the fourth root race). Euphrates, the great and abounding river, waters the Buddhic Plane, or the Universal Love Plane, the Plane of Unity.

Here is the Promised Land of the race. The conquest of these four planes is to be its destiny, and this is the Promised Land always referred to in Scripture.

"In the day that thou eatest" of the fruit of the tree of good and evil (try to learn by breaking law), "thou shalt surely die, or a better translation is, "thou shall lead a dying life, warns the good Lord Jehovah.

In the rib story we find the Lord Jehovah providing an Astral body for humanity, and again He calls upon the Second Great Outpouring before the body can be made. This time the symbolism is somewhat different. The letter "Yod" is the symbol of the first person of the Trinity, also of the Monad. The shape of the letter "Yod" is something like a rib with a piece of the vertebra attached. The symbol is this: Adam was one "Yod," and the Lord Jehovah took another "Yod," or a Second

Outpouring of the Infinite at the side of Adam, and closed up the rent thereof. That is "Yod" joined to "Yod" makes the letter H, "Hevah," the symbol of the Second Great Outpouring. This word "Hevah" is translated "Eve" and really means the creative love wisdom manifestation, or the Second Outpouring, the form producing outpouring upon any plane. The Lord Jehovah called this production woman (Isshah) "whom God lends," or as one translator puts it "the completion of man." In other words, a body for man (humanity) to function in.

Speaking of the Second Great Outpouring, Mr. Leadbeater, on page 30 of "Christian Creed," small edition, says: "On the downward are of its mighty curve it simply aggregates round itself the different kinds of matter on the various planes, so that all may be accustomed and adapted to act as its vehicles."

The "Kabbalah" says, page 334: "When the male is joined with the female they both constitute one complete body," and again, "when the Masculine and Feminine are joined together they appear to form only one body, and this is Arcanum"; again, "The Mother H is joined to the King and is found to form one body with him.

So evidently this episode is simply showing the providing of an Astral vehicle for the race to function in.

"He shall leave his father and his mother" (the creative forces that have brought him here), "and cleave" to his Eve, his vehicles that he has entered, till he gets control of them.

But he and his body were naked (of experience).

Now comes the tempter, through this new strong desire body which is full of craving for sensation. Tame obedience does not give it the thrills it wants.

The serpent is a symbol of wisdom. The brazen serpent is true wisdom; the black serpent, black art; but it always refers to wisdom of some sort, or a great teacher of some sort. So this teacher shows the young race how to get sensation by breaking law.

The "Kabbalah" says: "When the inferior man descendeth (into this world) like unto the Supernal form (in himself) there are found two spirits, so that man is formed from two sides, from the right side and from the left side. With respect to the right side he hath the Holy Intelligences, with respect to the left side